The Redmond Cup

The Redmond Cup is the longest running and most prestigious youth tournament in the United States. Named after professional 9-dan Michael Redmond and first organized by his family, the tournament was created to encourage play among grade school children and to discover excellence among North American youth players. It was initially sponsored by the Ing Foundation, with additional support from the American Go Foundation. The tournament has been one of the continent's premiere youth events since 1994, and is currently funded by the AGA, with support from the AGF. Michael Bull ran the event for the first twenty years, before passing the hat on to Paul Barchilon and Justin Teng.

Eligibility

The Redmond Cup is a competition for dan-level players in Canada, the US, and Mexico. Kyu players may compete in the North American Kyu Championships, where the winners of the top division are granted entry into the Redmond Cup. The Redmond Cup has two divisions: Senior, for players under 18, and Junior, for players under 13. The cut-off date is the final day of the US Go Congress, which is August 8th for 2020. Players whose birthday falls prior to that date must play at the age they will be at that time. Players must be either citizens of the United States or residents of the United States, Canada or Mexico, as well as members of their respective national Go organization.

Structure and Prizes

Preliminary games of the Redmond Cup are played online beginning in mid-March, with one match taking place every two weeks. The top two players in each division will be invited to play a best-of-three match for the title, at the US Go Congress. The AGA will provide up to $850 in congress expenses, and up to $400 in travel expenses, for each finalist. The final matches will always be live. If a player is unable to attend the congress, their slot will be given to the player with the next highest finishing score. In each division, the first place winner will receive $300, and the second place winner will receive $200, courtesy of the AGF. All four finalists will receive a trophy.

The honorary title of Redmond Meijin is granted to those who win the Redmond Cup five times. Eric Lui was the first to do this, in 2001. Curtis Tang had his fifth win in 2010. Aaron Ye became the third in 2017.

Acknowledgements

The AGA and the Redmond family would like to express their gratitude for the efforts of tournament director Michael Bull, the generous sponsorship by the Ing Foundation and to Timothy Jeans and the American Go Foundation for the annual donation of prize money.